Railway-frog



(No Model.)

N. W. BOYD RAILWAY FROG.

10.505,022. 'Patented sept. 12,189.3.-1 A

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHANIEL W. BOYD, OF CARLISLE, `PENNSYLVANIA.

RAI LWAY-FROG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 505,022, datedSeptember 12, 1893.

Application led September 12. 1892. Serial No. 445,658. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL W. BOYD, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oarlisle, in the county of Cumberland and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRailway-Frogs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

The first part of this invention relates to means for immovably holdingand bracing 1n position the point and one of the main line rails of aspring-rail frog to prevent the rigid rails forming the stift frog-bodyfrom spreading under the weight or impact ot' a passing train, themovable wing rail of this form of frog being normally held in lateralcontact with one of the sti rails of the body of the frog by suitabletension or pressure springs.

The second part of the invention relates to a novel spring mechanismfora spring-rail frog in which the spring housingis rigidly held inplace and forms the guides for the spring con trolled rods which areconnected to said movable wing-rail, suitable means being providedfornregulating the tension of the spring or sprmgs.

The invention consists in the novel combination of devices and peculiarconstruction and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter fullydescribed and pointed out in the` claims.

The invention is fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forminga part ot' this specification, and in which- Figure l is a plan view ofa stiff frog embodying myimprovements, and Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssectional view through the same on the plane indicated by the dottedline mof Fig. l., Fig. 3 is a plan view of a spring rail frogconstructed in accordance with this in-` vention. Fig. 4. is a crosssectional view through the spring rail frog on the plane indicated `bythe dotted line y-y of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view on theline z--zof Fig. 3,sh0wing the keeper for holding the wing rail againstvertical displacement. Fig. 6 is a detail view of the free end of thewing rail. Figs. 7 and 8 are detail sectional views of the springs andhousing for the wing rail. Fig. 9 is a detail view of the key.

Likeletters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the figuresof the drawings.

A, B, designate the fixed frog rails and C, D, are the main line railsof a railway track and frog, which rails are seated or bear on a bearingplate E placed underneath the rails and firmly spiked or otherwise fixedon the ties of a track. This bearing plate E may be made or" a singlecontinuous flat piece of metal, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 of thedrawings, or it may be made in sections, each of which is spiked to atie; hence I do not strictly contine my invent-ion to the use of eithera single or continuous plate or a sectional bearing plate, either ofwhich is within the scope of my invention.

All the rails forming the body of the frog, except the wing rail of thespring-rail frog in Figs. 3 and 4, are united and braced solidlytogether to prevent them from spreading under the action of thewheel-flanges and the weight of a passing train by the novel deviceswhich I will now describe.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. l and 2, which illustrate thestiff frog, the frog and main line rails are arranged in the usualmanner, and between the adjacent frog and main line rails A, C, and B,D, are interposed, respectively, the distance or filling blocks F, G,which lie` a suitable distance below the heads ot the rails and whichextend from the frog-point a proper distance toward the ends of the mainline rails, or these blocks may each be of two or more sections insteadof continuous pieces.

The mainline rails C, D, and the whole frog, are braced and strengthenedby means of the braces H, I, which are fixed or rigidly united to thebearing plateE and bear against the outside of the webs of said rails C,D. The iixed braces H, I, are each preferably made of a single piece ofmetal, and consist of a vertical arm h, a dat horizontal base h and aninclined arm h which joins the vertical upper arm h and the Aflat baseh. The

iiat base of the brace is riveted or otherwise united, at t', to thebearing plate E, and the inclined and vertical arms bearA firmly againstthe foot and web of the rail, as shown. Through IOO the rails, fillingblocks and the upper parts of the braces H, I, are passed the throughbolts .I which secu re the several parts so firmly and rigidly togetherthat the rails cannot be separated or spread apart by the action of theWheel Iianges or the weight of a train. This through bolt is of peculiarform, and without a nut or other kind of removable fastening, said bolthaving an imperforate plain shank and integral head at one end of saidshank. The bolt is passed through aligned openings in the braces,distance blocks and rails, with the head thereof resting in acountersunk opening e" in one of the braces, and the other end of thebolt having been heated, the metal is upset or swaged to form anotherhead which lits in a similar countersunk recess in the other brace onthe opposite side of the frog, whereby the bolt is secured withoutemployinga nut or fastening of any kind. Although I prefer suchconstruction, yet a nut-ted and headed bolt may be used. Between the webof one of the main line rails and one of the braces is fitted a taperingkey or wedge J, which is provided with a longitudinal slotj (see Fig. 9)that receives the bolt within itself, said key serving to bind the partstogether after the bolt hasvbeen applied, in the manner disclosed in myprior patent No. 462,297, dated November 3, 1891. No claim is hereinmade, however, to the combination of the rails, braces, distance block,a through bolt passing through the same, and a bearing plate on whichthe rails rest, the whole forming a stiff frog, as the same forms thesubject matter of a divisional application filed by me on the 15th dayof February, 18.93, Serial No. 462,425.

In the spring rail frog shown by Figs. 3 and 4, I unite the frog railsA, B, and one main line rail C together by the distance blocks, thebrace H, and the through bolt and key in the same manner as the parts ofthe stiff" frog just described, but the other rail D constitutes themovable wing-rail of the frog and it is arranged laterally of the frograils in the usual manner to adapt it to have the requisite lateralmovement under the action of the wheel-danges of a passing train.

In order to elevate or raise the fixed body of the frog the requisitedistance above the head of the movable Wing-rail D I provide the spacingplate K between the bearing plate E and the bases 0f the frog and mainline rails A, B, C, (see Fig. 4,) such spacing plate K being of thedesired thickness, say onefourth of an inch, to raise the heads of therails forming the body of the frog. This horizontal spacing plateextends under the fixed braces H at one side of the body of the frog`and the inner end of the spacing plate is bent vertically, at k,alongside the inner vertical flat side of the frog rail B, said bentvertical end 7c of the spacing plate serving as the brace for the innerside of the ixed frog body and so arranged that the tightening key orwedge J can be driven or forced between the main-rail C and the verticalend h of the wedge-key J, all as clearly shown by Fig. 5.

As is usual in spring rail frogs of the class to which the frog shown inFigs. 3 to 8 relates, the movable wing-rail D is bent at an intermediatepoint of its length to lie close against the fixed frog-rail B; and saidwing rail is normally held or pressed into position by means of thetension springs L, M, and the connection between said springs and thewing-rail.

There are two springs provided for holding the wing-rail in placelaterally against the frog, each of which is adapted for actionindependently of the other,but Iwould have it understood that myinvention is not restricted to such duplicate arrangement of springsasit is evident that a single powerful spring may be used, although Iprefer to use the two independently acting springs placed side by side.

The coiled springs are housed or inclosed in separate compartments n,n', of a housing N, which is preferably cast in a single piece of metalwith a central partition n2, to divide its chamber into thecompartments; and said housing is rigidly or immovably fastened to thebearing plate E by the vertical bolts N which are passed through thepartition n2 and the bearing plate (see Figs. '7 and 8). The front endof the housing,l or that end adjacent to the wing rail, is open, whilelthe rear end is closed by a fixed head '113, either integral with orvrigidly secured to the shell of the housing; and through said head n3are formed openings that receive theA rear ends of the spring-pressedcoupling rods O, P, one of which is arranged longitudinally in each ofthe compartments of the housing.'` The front ends of these coupling rodsO, P,

are provided with enlarged heads o, which are confined between the wingrail and the coupling strap p that has its ends bolted or riveted to theweb of the wing rail, the rods being passed through suitable openings,of less diameter than the heads 0, in the fixed coupling strap p on thewing rail, thus forming a loose or swiveled joint between the web of thewing rail and the spring pressed rods. I do not, however, limit myselfstrictly to this peculiar connection between the wing rail and thespring pressed rods, as it is evident that the rods can be connected tothe wing rail directly or by any equivalent fastening, or the head maysimply bear against the Web of the spring-rail and have no otherfastening than the pressure of the spring or springs. The coiled springsL, M, are fitted on the coupling-rods, and said rods are guided in theirback and forth motions by the rear wall of the fixed housing; and thesprings are confined within the housing, so as to be protected from theweather and accumulations of dirt, by means of the hollow or cup-shapedfollowers Q which are itted loosely on the rods and work freely, butsnugly in the open front IOO ends of the housing. These cup-shapedfollowers receive the front ends of the coiled tension springs, and thefollowers are held in position by means of nuts q which are screwed onthreaded portions q of the rods; and the tension ofthe springs can bevaried byturning the nuts q in the required direction according as it isdesired to increase or diminish the tension of the springs.

To hold the free end of the movable wing rail against verticaldisplacement in a simple and cheap manner and atthe same time permitsaid wing rail to have the necessary .lat-

eral movements relative to the body of the frog, I provide said free endof the wing rail with a projecting foot R andemploy a fixed keeper Rbeneath which the foot R of said rail is free to play back and forth ina horizontal line but not vertically. The foot R on the free end of thewing rail is formed by planing or cutting away the head and web of therail, leaving the base of said rail solid and integral with the body ofthe rail, all as clearly shown by Fig. 6; and said foot R is fittedbeneath the loop-shaped strap R forming the keeper, the ends of saidstrap being iirmly secured, by bolts or rivets, to the base of the frograil B and the bearing plate E, see Fig.v 5. The movement of the wingrail away from the frog body is limited by the fixed stops secured tothe bearing plate E at proper distances from the rails.

The operation and advantages of my invention will be readily understoodand appreciated by. those skilled in the art from the foregoingdescription taken in connection with the'drawings.

I am4 aware that changes in the form and proportion of parts and detailsof construction of the devices herein shown and described as anembodiment of my invention can be made without departing from the spiritor sacrificing the advantages thereof, and I therefore reserve the rightto make such changes and alterations as fairly fall within the scope ofthe same.

Having thus fully described my invention,`

what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a railway frog, the combination with a movable wing rail, of thestift frog-body comprising the mainline rail, the frog-rails, and

the distance blocks, said. frog -body being raised above the level ofthe top of the wingrail by a horizontal spacing plate iitted beneath thefrogbody and having its inner end provided with a vertical liange thatbears against the inner frog-rail, and the parts of the frog-body andthe vertical flange of the spacing plate being united rigidly togetherby a through bolt, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a railway frog, the combination with the fixed point rails and themain line rail, a bearing plate, and the distance blocks, of a movablewing rail, the horizontal spacing plate iitted below the fixed body ofthe frog and having its inner end bent upward to bear against the innerfrog rail, the fixed brace bearing againstthe outer main line rail, andthe through bolt passing through the frog and main .line rails, thedistance blocks and the two braces, substantially as described.

`3. In a railway frog, the combination with the fixed frog rails andmain line rail, of a movable wing rail, a iiXed housing, a springtherein, a coupling rod connected directly to said wing rail and guidedin the fixed housing, a cup-shaped follower tted on said rod and intheopen end of the` housing, and receiving the outer end of the spring,and anadjustable nut carried by the coupling rod and bearing against thefollower, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. In a railway frog, the combination with the fixed frog and main linerails, of the n1ov.V

able wing rail, a fixed spring housing open at its front end, thecoupling rodsplaying freely in the housing and havingthe direct looseconnection at their front ends with the wing rail, the spring fitted onsaid rods within the housing, the cup-shaped followers carried by saidrods to play freely in the open end of the housing, and receiving withinthemselves the outer ends of the springs, and the adjustable nuts onsaid rods and bearing against the followers, substantially as described.In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

NATHANIEL W. BOYD.

`Witnesses:

JOHN R. MILLER, DAVID W. Wonsrn

